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Lead with a Story Podcast | Lessons in leadership, one story at a time

By Paul Smith: bestselling author, trainer, and keynote speaker on leadership, storytelling, parenting, and character development.

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Based on interviews with 100 executives and leaders at dozens of successful companies around the world as they learned their most important leadership lessons - sometimes the hard way. Featuring stories from executives at Proctor & Gamble, Dollar General, Hewlett Packard, Kellogg's, Dun & Bradstreet, Saatchi & Saatchi, Verizon, and many more. Each episode brings you an important lesson through a single compelling story.
21 Leadership Challenges from Lead with a Story: vision, commitment, change, recommendations, customer service, culture, values, collaboration, diversity, policy, inspiration, courage, passion for work, teach lessons, coaching & feedback, problem solving, understand the customer, delegate, creativity, sales, and earn respect.

When my then son Matthew came home from his first day of fifth grade, he announced, “I’m going to learn to play the euphonium!” I said, “That’s great!” Then I sheepishly added, “Uh, what’s a euphonium?” In response, he just matter-of-f

Sometimes a long-term vision is so lofty or so aggressive it comes across as an unachievable dream, instead of a realistic vision. If that’s the case with your vision, congratulations on having such a worthy idea!

It’s lonely at the top. Or, so I’ve heard. And the reason is that senior executives are often viewed as unapproachable and impersonal. And in a military setting where officers have to send troops into deadly combat,

It’s okay to be funny in the office. In fact, I think a sense of humor is critical to success in life and work. But at work, you’re a leader, not a comedian. You don’t have the same latitude as a stand-up comic on stage.

Every company has two different sets of rules: the official rules written in the policy manual, and the unspoken rules that everyone actually follows. A classic example is working hours. Company guidelines might say that quitting time is five o’clock.

CleanThe Monthly Challenge: How to Solve Tough Problems and Build Collaborative Teams at the Same Time

A friend of mine we’ll call Tom was a partner at a big consulting firm. One day, he showed up at one of his client’s offices and heard this: Sorry, Tom. We’re going to have to cancel your retainer—at least for a little while.” Now, to a consul

In the late 1990s, Titleist had a 75 percent market share of the golf ball market among the best golfers in the country (those with a handicap of 15 or less). But that only represented about 5 percent of golfers.

Is it a good idea to share your most personal struggles, thoughts, feelings, and stories at work? Tom Gartland thinks so. Tom is the former President of the Avis Budget Group, North America, and the author of a new book called Lead with Heart: Transfor

CleanThe 8 Types of Leaders in the White House (and Which One Are You?)

Are certain leadership styles more prevalent than others in among Presidents of the United States? Which Presidents fit into which categories? What attributes of leadership do those types have? How can we find out which type of leader we are?

CleanIn-Home Research: What a 6am Breakfast in Mexico Taught the CEO of the World’s Largest Cereal Maker

It’s 6 A.M. in Queretaro, Mexico, about 130 miles north of Mexico City. Most of the residents are just waking up. But one woman is already dressed and has visitors in her kitchen. No, this isn’t the time of day nor type of guests she usually enterta

Perhaps you’ve seen this puzzle. There are nine dots on a page, arranged in a 3-by-3 matrix. The challenge is to connect all nine dots with four straight lines (or fewer) without lifting your pencil or retracing your path.

Here’s a situation that happens far more often than we’d like to admit. What do you do when you’re told to give a presentation that you just don’t believe in? It usually happens to a midlevel manager who’s told they have to deploy the latest

A leader’s skills, character, and values become clear only when they’re tested in challenging times. Those also happen to be when our skills and character are most likely to grow. I recently had a chat with Sara Mathew,

Clean3 Bad Jokes and 1 Important Lesson in Courage from Comedian Drew Tarvin

Professional comedian and self-described “humor engineer” Drew Tarvin recently completed a nomadic tour of the U.S. performing in all 50 States. His book The United States of Laughter: One Comedian’s Journey Through All 50 States details his fu

As a storytelling coach, I’m often asked, “Do my leadership or sales stories have to be true?” My perhaps surprising answer is, “No, they don’t. You can completely make up a story you tell at work, but only under one condition.

CleanOne Question That Led to an Innovation Breakthrough for Procter & Gamble and Can Do the Same for You

TIDE HAS BEEN the number one selling brand of laundry detergent in the United States since soon after its introduction in 1946. The main reason for that is that the chemists and engineers at Procter & Gamble are committed to improving the cleaning form.

CleanFinding the Fire at Work: What We Can All Learn From the World’s Most Grueling Athletic Competition

“Over 70% of people are uninspired, disengaged, and passionless at work” – That’s according to author and speaker Scott Mautz. Scott joined me on my podcast this week to talk about how to change that. He shared the results of his work in that ar

Clean“How Did We Kill This Man?” A Management Nightmare that Led to a Better Leadership Philosophy

I recently had the chance to visit with performance coach Cort Dial, author of the book Heretics to Heroes: A Memoir on Modern Leadership. He shared the story of a fascinating but tragic incident early in his career that led him to develop a very diffe.

“Be slow to hire and quick to fire.” That’s the conventional wisdom in human resources. Take the time to make sure you’ve got the right candidate before making an offer. The result is a lengthy process that starts with a detailed online applicat

In July of 1999, the New York Times and CBS conducted an interesting survey. They asked, “Of people in general, how many do you think are trustworthy?” The average answer was 30 percent. Then it asked, “Of people you know personally,

CleanTwo Leadership Lessons from an American Author’s Walk Across Spain

This week my guest is Victor Prince. He’s a leadership trainer and author of the books, Inside the Box and Executive Farm. My last discussion with Victor was about lessons from the 2009 presidential inauguration.

CleanCompensating Behavior: A Leader’s Guide to Finding Problems You Don’t Know You Have

None of your problem-solving skills as a leader will work when the problem you’re facing is a problem you don’t even know you have. Before you can solve problems, of course, you have to identify them. Below I share a simple but highly effective way

CleanDoes Customer Service This Amazing Ever Happen at Your Company? If So, Would You Even Know It?

When Ray Brook’s flight landed at Portland International Airport on Monday morning, he headed straight for National Car Rental where he had a reservation. He had a meeting with a customer in 30 minutes and a full schedule of visits to warehouses and d

Loyalty is one of those things that sounds like a good idea or an admirable character trait, until you think about what it really means in a real-world situation. One of the creepiest moments in my working career was when my team got a new boss and in .

There’s an endless amount of advice available for how to give tough feedback effectively, but very little on how to receive it well. One person who learned how the hard way is Gail Hollander. Gail has been in the advertising business for 25 years,

CleanGreat leaders help people find passion for their work — even for the most unappealing jobs. Here’s how. . .

Ever heard the advice, “You really need to love your job”? It’s usually offered unsolicited by an overconfident boss who thinks the rank and file will find it inspiring, or somehow turn their drudgery into a rewarding experience. Does it work?

I once hired a consultant, and the first thing out of his mouth was a lie. Seriously. I brought him in to lead a 3-day long-term strategy session for my business unit. When he kicked off the first day of meetings,

Sometimes living up to your company’s values requires more than just knowing what the right thing is and wanting to do it. In those cases, a little creativity sometimes helps. Here’s an example that will hopefully give you some ideas for how to resp

CleanBusinessWeek on Bounty: A Case Study in Turning Bad Headlines into an Agent of Change

In early 2001, the stock market was still reeling from the dot-com bubble and burst a few months earlier. The economy was uncertain, and even many traditional companies were in turbulent times. Procter & Gamble was one of them.

Most business school professors know their students can learn a great deal from the practical experience of local business leaders. Dr. Art Shriberg at Xavier University was one of them. He regularly invited senior executives from local companies to sp.

CleanThe Most Useless Document at Your Company — The Corporate Values Statement

Every company has them—Corporate Values Statements. Sometimes they’re called Company Values and Principles, or simply What we Believe. But values are only words on a piece of paper until they’re tested. That is,

My podcast guest this week is Jathan Janove, who stopped by to share three fascinating stories from his new book, Hard-Won Wisdom: True Stories from the Management Trenches. Today, Jathan is an organizational consultant, management blogger,

At 5:46 A.M. on January 17, 1995, a massive earthquake shook the city of Kobe, Japan, killing over 5,000 people, and leaving 300,000 injured or homeless. Measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, it was the worst earthquake Japan had experienced in over 70

CleanA 3,000-year-old technique for delivering tough feedback to the boss

Giving feedback is a lot easier when the misstep is obvious once pointed out. Unfortunately, people sometimes have difficulty seeing even an obvious mistake when they’re the ones committing it. What can you do when others can’t (or won’t) see the

In 2010, I had the pleasure of working with Courtney Minor. She’d just been promoted and was working with a new team on an important project. The day came when she, along with her teammates, had the opportunity to present their work to the leadership

I’d just started a new assignment one month earlier when my boss called me into her office. The good news was that our business was great this year, and we were on track to overdeliver our objectives. The bad news was that next year was shaping up to

Figliuolo’s Law: an individual’s compensation is inversely proportional to the number of PowerPoint slides they’ll tolerate before stroking out. That’s the observation of Mike Figliuolo. He’s the founder and managing partner of the executive

My guest this week is speaker and bestselling author Todd Henry, and he’ll be sharing some wisdom from his latest book, Louder Than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice. In particular, he starts with an inspiring story about one of the gre

My guest this week is Google President of Brand Solutions, Kirk Perry. He shares a very personal story about a loss on a high school wrestling mat that has both haunted and blessed him ever since. Kirk is much more interesting (and charming) to listen .

I’m very excited to announce today the publication of the Kindle version of my newest book, Sell with a Story: How to Capture Attention, Build Trust, and Close the Sale. As you can tell from the title, it’s about how to use the power of storytelling

CleanWhat you can learn about creative problem solving from an old air conditioner

Before I became an author, I spent 13 of my 22 years in the corporate world working in consumer research. So I got to attend a fair number of consumer research conferences. One of my favorite parts of those conferences was getting to hear about interes.

Which of the following do you think would work better? Imagine you’re an executive at a large, multi-national company. You have a crop of 25 newly hired research analysts in a large conference room waiting for some wisdom and inspiration from you,

I had the opportunity to give a presentation to Procter & Gamble’s then-CEO, A.G. Lafley, four or five times in the 20 years I was with the company. And the first time was unforgettable. That day I learned a valuable lesson—the hard way—about how

During their monthly meeting, a leadership team was discussing ways to increase compliance with the clean desk policy, starting with a debate over where the biggest violations were. It turned out, most violations were the results of documents left on t.

Clean16 Questions to a personal leadership philosophy that doesn’t suck

Anyone who’s spent any time in the corporate world has been in this situation. Somebody new joins your department — could be a peer, a new boss, or even a new direct report of yours. And you’re having one of those first get-to-know-you meetings

“Not yet, Dad! I have to get to the next level!” That’s the response I got every time I told my then 12-year-old son, Matthew, it was time to stop playing video games and go to bed. It’s hard for a parent who grew up on Space Invaders and Pacman

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a very bright and trustworthy young woman. Having learned all she could in her own village, she set out to explore the neighboring lands. After a time, she came upon a great city surrounded by a huge ca.

I never considered myself an especially gifted manager of people. But every once in awhile I did something right. This week’s story is about one of those days a few years ago. I had a project review meeting with a junior manager in a corporate departm

CleanStory Triggers – doing something remarkable other people will talk about

This week I’m joined by global storytelling expert Shawn Callahan from Melbourne. Shawn is the founder of Anecdote, a strategy story consultancy and training firm. He’s also the author of a new book, Putting Stories to Work: Mastering Business Story

One of the most prevalent human frailties — one that begins in childhood and stays with us the rest of our lives — is a concern about what other people think of us. To a 10-year-old, it might be what the other kids will think of her new tennis shoes

Clean“The Jittery Compass”: Moving your performance from good to great

What’s the difference between good job performance and great job performance? And how do you explain that to a junior manager seeking guidance? Today’s post has some answers. The annual performance review As part of their annual review process,

Perseverance in the face of defeat is a required character trait in sports and politics. You have to lose a few games and races on the road to the Super Bowl or to Washington. But is persistence useful in business?

One of the jobs of being a leader is to help the people who work for you find more passion for their work. One of the perhaps less-than-obvious ways to do that is to remove the things they’re decidedly dispassionate about.

CleanTalking to Crazy: How to Deal with the Irrational and Impossible People in Your Life

My guest this week is Dr. Mark Goulston, a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist and consultant. He blogs for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Psychology Today. And he’s regularly featured in the Wall Street Journa

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, this week’s story reminds us that despite the progress we’ve made, we have more work to do. A sharecropper’s daughter Beverly Keown was born on a plantation in Seaton, Arkansas, the fourth of eight children.

Sometimes rules lead to unintended consequences that cause more damage than the problem they were designed to prevent. Here’s a classic example, and advice on what to do about it. Phil Renshaw is a consultant and coach for financial executives at Circ

Part of dealing with issues of race and prejudice in a healthy manner starts with recognizing that we all have deep-seated preconceived notions about others. Some we’re conscious of and know how we got them, and others we’re not.

My guest this week is Lori Silverman. She’s a management consultant, speaker, trainer, and the author of a number of fabulous books, including: Wake me up when the data is over: How organizations use stories to drive results,

IMAGINE CONDUCTING this experiment. Put five monkeys in a cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling. Underneath the bananas, place a ladder just tall enough to reach them. Then any time one of the monkeys tries to climb the ladder,

Our natural inclination in hard economic times is to curtail all spending. Unfortunately, that short-term view sometimes means we forgo investments in people and technology that we’ll wish we had made when the good times return.

In 1983, Joe Willke was still an analyst with Nielsen-BASES—a consumer research firm that specializes in predicting the sales of new products before they’re launched. Their technique starts by exposing a few hundred people to the concept behind the

My guest this week is Glenn Leibowitz, the head of communications for McKinsey & Company Greater China. He’s also the host of the podcast Write for Impact and a popular blogger on LinkedIn. So, suffice it to say,

One of the quickest and effective ways to create caring, productive relationships between employees is also one of the easiest. And it just requires sharing a few stories. The day I learned that lesson was the day I had a long conversation with Jamie J.

One of the most attention-grabbing and change-producing surprises you can use with your clients might also be the simplest. And it can be delivered with as little as a single word. Consider the following examples from Gary Cofer.

Keeping a team motivated when they’re doing a traditional role is easy, because you have all the traditional tools of leadership at your disposal. But what if you’ve asked a team to do a job that isn’t normal?

Clean“Did I win or lose today?”: What business can learn from the high-stakes game of politics

One of my favorite scene’s in Lewis Carroll’s classic book, Alice in Wonderland, is when Alice asks the Cheshire Cat, ‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ The cat replies, ‘That depends a good deal on where you want

I’m doing something a little different this week. Usually the stories in this podcast teach a specific leadership lesson. But this week, the lesson addressed in the story is about storytelling itself as a leadership tool.

MEXICO CITY IS A world away from the East African country of Tanzania, where John Stephen Akhwari lived. But that’s exactly where he found himself in October 1968, representing his country in the Summer Olympic Games as a marathon runner.

CleanGet more creativity from your team with the help of a 9-yr-old boy

Getting your employees to be more creative might be one of the toughest jobs a leader ever faces. It’s hard enough to figure out how to be more creative yourself, much less find a way to get other people to up their creative game.

Part of the job of leadership is keeping the team motivated and instilling a sense of urgency. Left to our own devices, it’s easy to become complacent and slow. Is there a story that can inspire your team to face each opportunity as if it were the las

CleanWhat getting stuck in the mud in Taiwan can teach you about prestige branding

This week I got to chat with J.P. Kuehlwein, marketing expert and author of the new book, Rethinking Prestige Branding: Secrets of the Ueber-Brands. He shared an unexpectedly touching experience he had with a brand of soap in the middle of a muddy padd.

Most companies have a policy against moonlighting, even if it doesn’t directly interfere with your main job. Most of them argue that holding down a second job drains you of energy and creativity that you’d otherwise invest in your main j...

CleanLessons from behind the scenes at President Obama’s 2009 inauguration

My interview with consultant and author Victor Prince. . . PAUL: Every four years since 1801, Washington D.C. has had the privilege of hosting a presidential inauguration. And it’s more than just a big celebration for those on the winnin...

In 2007, Scott Ford was the CEO of Alltel, a regional wireless telecommunications company headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. In May of that year, he announced that the company was being sold to two private equity firms,

CleanLeaving a legacy: What happens to your focus when you read your own obituary in the newspaper

In his new book, Make it Matter, Scott Mautz shares the sobering but true story of the man who invented dynamite — a Swedish chemist named Alfred, who made a fortune off his invention. While used mostly for demolition and mining,

CleanExpert Communication: addressing multiple audiences with the same idea

The 2nd half of my conversation with Frank Pietrucha, author of the book, Supercommunicator. He discusses two strategies for explaining a single message to multiple audiences by sharing the experience of a biological weapons expert and rogue archeologis

IN THE MID-1970S, Orville Sweet was CEO of national trade association. As any CEO will tell you, one of his or her unenviable tasks is having to fire a close friend and colleague. Such was the case for Orville that year.

My guest this week is Frank Pietrucha, author of the book, Supercommunicator. He shares how physicist Brian Greene helped him understand the significance of the Higgs Boson particle, and the techniques he used that can help you explain anything complic.

CleanEpisode 16: Two bad presentation habits you need to stop right now

The second half of my conversation with sales coach Mike Weinberg where he talks about two bad presentation habits you need to stop right now. Mike is the author of the bestselling book New Sales. Simplified. You can find him at www.newsalescoach.com.

CleanEpisode 15: The worst sales call ever witnessed by the best sales coach in the business

My guest today is Mike Weinberg, new business development coach and author of the bestselling book New Sales. Simplified. He joins me this week to share a painful story about the worst sales call he ever witnessed and the career-changing lessons he lea.

In today’s episode you’ll hear about the importance of first impressions from one guy who brought his own folding table to work and became a hero, and another who asked for a cup of coffee, and never lived it down.

Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative and Die Empty, shares a terrifying experience he had at the age of 16 that landed him in a hospital bed for a month, but taught him a life-changing lesson that’s inspired him ever since.

CleanEpisode 10: Creating better employees, happier customers, and more of both

Taking care of the customer once you have them is just as important as all the effort you go through to get the customer in the first place. In fact, happy customers can become your best sales asset for new customers,

Whether you’re making a sales pitch or delivering a recommendation to your boss, you’re trying to get someone to buy something — either buy your product or buy into your idea. One of the best ways to do that is with a “discovery journey” story

CleanEpisode 8: What to do when your sales presentation is in the trash can

If your sales presentation is in the trash can, you’d better have a good story. And the unfortunate truth is, whether literally or only mentally and emotionally, your sales material often ends up in the trash can. You’re better off with a good story

CleanEpisode 7: How Saatchi & Saatchi-X founder learns from the most unlikely places

When retailer marketing entrepreneur, Andy Murray, wanted to improve his company’s speed and efficiency, he turned to the most unlikely of places: his son’s pediatrician. Listen to his powerful yet unexpected lesson that helped grow his company into

From Bracken Darrell, CEO of Logitech, an insightful lunchtime conversation teaches us that some of the most common diversity offenses in the workplace go on without the perpetrator even knowing what they’ve done.

The best lesson I ever learned about leading change I learned from two twin 6-year-old boys. And that lesson is this: People aren’t afraid of change. They’re afraid of not being prepared for change. Learn the difference here.

Customer Reviews

Truly Helps Info Delivered via Great Stories

by
Kristin Pedemonti

What I like most about Paul Smith's Lead With a Story Podcasts are the friendly pull- you-in conversational tone & the collaborative nature of each episode. Through Story Paul delivers truly helpful tips and material that is insightful both in the business world and real life. Paul highlights our humanity while sharing information that is deeply impactful & helpful.Kudos!

Excellent short and insightful stories

by
VHManzanilla

What I love about this podcast is that is less than 10 minutes long but packed with a deep insight that can help us be better everyday. I really like that the story makes this podcast entertaining while I am learning one key thing in every episode. Thank you Paul!

Great for business, great for life!

by
Pankeyman LR

Excellent conversations with business leaders about life and the foundation of their success. Great podcast!